Happy Birthday, Major
by lethallans
Summary: Kaidan can be forgetful about even the most basic dates. Thankfully, Shepard has this one covered. Fluffy Shenko times.


Kaidan blinks the blurriness in his eyes away and rolls onto his back, his left arm grasping out automatically to wrap around Shepard – but only gropes at empty space. That takes Kaidan by surprise - Shepard was never up and awake before him. He glances blearily at the clock – 6 AM – _way_ too early for a late riser like Shepard. Something strange is definitely going on. He groggily gets out of bed and pulls on some pants before heading downstairs. As he trudges down the steps, he can hear some sort of clatter emanating from the kitchen, and hurries over to see what's causing it.

When he enters the room, he stops in his tracks, unsure whether or not he's dreaming the scene if front of him. The kitchen, which had been spotless the night before, is torn apart. Cupboards are open, dishes are littered everywhere, and containers of food are left open and spilling onto the counter.

And in the middle of it all, made only a silhouette by the rising sun behind her, is Shepard, violently stirring something in a bowl and occasionally swearing at the unlucky kitchenware. She hasn't noticed him yet. He shields his eyes to get a better look at her. She's wearing her usual sleep attire, an N7 sports bra and yoga pants, and Kaidan can't help but notice how they nicely they hug her body.

"Hey, Shepard. You're awake," he says with a yawn as he walks up to her and leans over the counter.

Shepard spins around at the sound on his voice and stops stirring, resting the bowl on her hip. He notices splatters of some sort of brown batter on her cheek and pants. "Kaidan. Didn't expect you up so early."

"I should be saying the same thing. You're usually fast asleep until 11. At least."

Shepard chuckles at that. "Well, yeah, but today's special. You know why?"

Kaidan pales. Had he forgotten some sort of anniversary? "…Let's pretend I don't," he says carefully.

She wags the wooden stirring spoon at him sternly, ignoring the batter that goes flying off it. "Of all people, I'd expect you to remember."

He racked his brain for important dates, but came up with nothing. He grimaced and leaned against the counter beside her. "Sorry."

She rolls her eyes at him and places the bowl (which Kaidan was able to confirm was full of some sort of chocolate batter) down next to her. "It's your birthday, Kaidan. You idiot."

_Oh_. "Oh." He'd completely forgotten. One little date doesn't seem very important when Reapers were attacking.

"Yeah, 'Oh'!" She laughs and swats him with her arm playfully. "I was going to surprise you with breakfast in bed."

He surveys the kitchen's state of disrepair. "This is surprising, all right."

She scowls good-naturedly. "Why I even bother doing nice things for you is lost on me."

"Probably because of my astounding good looks." Kaidan wraps her arms around her and pulls her in for a hug.

Shepard meets him with a light kiss. "Yeah, you're right. I'm really shallow."

He pulls away from her reluctantly and picks up Shepard's abandoned bowl of mystery batter from the counter, peering in. "So…what is this, exactly?"

"Chocolate pancakes," she says proudly. "An ancient delicacy."

"Well," Kaidan sighs, trying to mimic Shepard's expert deadpan and failing miserably. "It's not steak sandwiches and beer, but I'll take it."

"Don't be so ungrateful. The steak sandwiches were coming…later. Probably." She crinkles her nose and waves her hand vaguely.

"Hey – I love chocolate pancakes, Shepard. I just…" Kaidan knows that he has to tread carefully when it comes to Shepard's cooking skills, or rather, lack thereof. "I just thought that it would be better to, uh, go out instead of eating in."

"Going out is for the weak," Shepard tries to glare at him, but the expression is interrupted by a yawn. They were up past midnight the evening before, and a soldier like Shepard needs a large share of rest to keep her small body running on the battlefield. She ignores the yawn, doing her best to talk around it. "I'm strong."

"You're _tired_." Kaidan puts a hand on her freckle-dusted shoulder. "If we're going to celebrate, I want you to be fully awake. Just in case we get attacked by Cerberus during the appetizers."

"I am too awake! Look how awake I am," she protests half-heartedly. Another yawn, and she groans slightly in defeat and walks back into his arms.

"My senses are all alert," she mumbles into his shoulder as her arms snake around his waist. "Nothing can best me. Except for…mm, chocolate pancakes."

"We'll finish those later. C'mon, let's go back upstairs and sleep in for a while."

Shepard pulls away from his shoulder, craning her neck so she can look him in the eye with a tired smile on her face. "…I love you."

Kaidan kisses her affectionately on her nose and gently untangles himself from her embrace, leaving one arm wound her waist. He began to lead her back upstairs. "I know."

"I'll finish the pancakes later," she promises quietly. She's leaning into him now for support, feeling more and more tired after admitting her exhaustion. "I can put candles on them, and we can have a little celebration. Just you and I."

"That sounds perfect."

"Mm," she purrs happily as they begin climbing up the stairs. A moment's silence, then, "…Kaidan?"

"Yeah?"

She nudges him with her elbow. "Happy birthday, Major."

"Thanks, Shepard."


End file.
